使用MySQLi插入NULL而不是空值

Question

I have a form with some optional fields. In the database those fields are set to accept NULL. The code below will throw an error if some field is empty. Could you please assist on what is the best way to avoid this? The only solution I was thinking of is to set the vars to ' ' if is empty().

$query = "INSERT INTO gifts (dateRequest, firstName, lastName, note, lastUpdated) 
    VALUES (?, ?, ?, ?, NOW())";
if ($stmt = $dbc->prepare($query)) {
    $dateRequest = $_POST['dateRequest'];
    $firstName = $_POST['firstName'];
    $lastName = $_POST['lastName'];
    $note = $_POST['note'];
    $stmt->bind_param('ssss', $dateRequest, $firstName, $lastName, $note);
    if ($stmt->execute()) {
        $stmt->close();
        header('Location: index.php');
    } else {
        echo $stmt->error;
    }
}

Answer 1

I would rather suggest to check $_POST paramenters before definied them so if a variable is not empty set values otherwise set as NULL

if(!empty($_POST['dateRequest'])) { $dateRequest = $_POST['dateRequest']; } else { $dateRequest = NULL; }
if(!empty($_POST['firstName'])) { $firstName = $_POST['firstName']; } else { $firstName  = NULL; }
if(!empty($_POST['lastName'])) { $lastName = $_POST['lastName']; } else { $lastName = NULL; }
if(!empty($_POST['lastName'])) { $note = $_POST['note']; } else { $note = NULL; }

This will prevent you to pass empty parameters in your query.